Set in the very near future in an instantly recognizable Chicago, "Divergent" also feels more real.

As teenagers, everyone in the movie's Chicago gets divided into one of five narrowly focused skill groups, called factions, but Tris (Shailene Woodley) isn't into categories.

Shailene Woodley and Theo James in "Divergent."

Raised in an Abnegation (selflessness) family, she opts for Dauntless (bravery) but quickly discovers that she is actually Divergent, which means she fits into multiple categories. That also means her society wants to get rid of her because it can only control people it can categorize.

There are three books in the "Divergent" series and, like many initial movies in series, this one tries to do too much. "Divergent" is a plot-heavy book, anyway -- as it follows Tris and her friends learning the Dauntless ways and then rebelling against them -- and the movie is determined to cram in everything. A few characters fall by the wayside but, if you're looking for a movie that faithfully reproduces the book, "Divergent" is the slightly unwieldy adaptation for you.

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As it moves from family drama (where Tris' mysterious mom is played by Ashley Judd) to adventures in team-building (where Tris takes a shine to an instructor played by Theo James) to the brink of revolution, what holds "Divergent" together is the calm, intuitive acting of Woodley. The actress is about five years older than her character, but she's convincing as a teenager who is eager/frightened to figure out who she is. She's equally credible when Tris discovers her inner action hero, starting with an exuberant scene in which she ziplines between Windy City skyscrapers.

Director Neil Burger preserves the reality of Chicago in that scene, and there are others where you will glimpse landmarks such as Navy Pier and the Marina Towers in the background, which helps to create a sense of something major at stake. There's nothing in "Divergent" with the impact of the hunger games but the movie, which ends with a cliffhanger, does a nice job of setting us up for a future where a world that is recognizably our world will be challenged.

That may not work so well for audiences who have not read the book and who may find "Divergent" mildly unsatisfying. For the rest of us, though, the feeling is that we're being introduced to people and practices that will become important in the next movie, when the series reaches the story it really wants to tell.